Cornell makes big plays in second half to pull away from Leechburg

By: Bob Orkwis
Friday, November 1, 2024 | 10:36 PM

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Many playoff matchups featuring the eighth and ninth seeds are close and exciting. Friday night’s WPIAL Class A first-round contest at Leechburg between No. 9 Cornell and the eighth-seeded Blue Devils was certainly that.

Cornell used two late scores to break a 20-20 tie and defeat Leechburg, 34-20, at Memorial Stadium.

“We’ve been the underdog all season,” Cornell coach Ed Dawson said. “Cornell’s good, but it’s always the same thing for us to go out and earn it.”

The Raiders scored first with a bit of luck on their side as MJ Stuckey’s pass near the end zone glanced off the hands of Jayden Floyd and into the waiting arms of Isaiah Dawson for a 26-yard touchdown. Walter Clarit’s 2-point conversion run made the score 8-0 early in the second quarter.

Leechburg answered on the ensuing drive. Floyd scored his 26th touchdown of the season on a 3-yard run, His 2- point conversion pass to Jake Cummings was low, and Cornell led 8-6.

Coach Dawson went into his bag of tricks late in the second quarter for the next score. After a timeout on fourth-and-8, Khylil Johnson took a pitch and found Mikey Keyes behind the secondary on a perfectly executed halfback option pass with 1 minutes, 16 seconds left. Cornell missed the extra point but led 14-6 at halftime.

Johnson started the second half for Cornell with a big play, breaking several tackles on his way to a 62-yard touchdown run down the far sideline for a 20-6 lead.

Leechburg turned to senior quarterback Floyd to mount the comeback, and the dual-threat signal caller did so with his legs. Floyd broke off the right end on the next Blue Devils drive for a 19-yard score, but, again, the 2-point conversion pass failed and it was again an eight-point game.

When Floyd scored his third touchdown of the game with just over three minutes gone in the fourth quarter, Leechburg pulled with two points. Floyd then ran for the conversion to tie the score at 20-20.

Dawson said his defense was good for most of the night, especially when they needed stops late.

“We had to settle down and go back to fundamental football,” he said. “I think it was just the height of the game, we weren’t executing at times. We have guys who can score points all the time, but it’s our defense that doesn’t get the credit it deserves at times.”

The teams traded possessions, and the Cornell special teams produced the biggest play of the game.

Senior Damian Blackwell, who intercepted a pass earlier in the game, fielded a line-drive punt on a bounce at the Leechburg 48-yard line and raced into the end zone down the right sideline to put Cornell back in front. Stuckey hit Keyes for the 2-point conversion and a 28-20 Raiders lead.

Cornell forced Leechburg to turn the ball over on downs, and, on third down, Stuckey threw his second touchdown pass of the night, this one from 24 yards to Johnson to make the final score 34-20.

“We dealt with a lot of adversity this week in practice. We have a lot of guys sick,” Dawson said. “The willingness to persevere and overcome adversity is what makes this team what it is.”

Stuckey, a junior, threw for 143 yards. Johnson, who now has 25 total touchdowns on the season, threw for a score, rushed for 110 yards and another touchdown and caught the final touchdown of the game for Cornell.

“He’s special,” Dawson said. “Again, we have a lot of kids who can score, but we have a very unselfish team. That makes this all generally more exciting.”

Floyd, who, for the second straight season put up more than 1,000 yards rushing and passing, finished his great career with 168 yards rushing and three scores for Leechburg (8-3).

Next up for Cornell (9-2) is top seeded Fort Cherry. The Rangers are the defending WPIAL Class A champions and defeated the Raiders, 35-6, during the regular season.

Dawson said his message to his team is a simple one for next week: “If you want to keep dancing and keep the music playing, you have to execute. It’s really about us doing what we need to do and executing.”

Tags: Cornell, Leechburg